July 10 (Bloomberg) -- NTPC Ltd., India’s largest
electricity generator, has begun construction of a third solar
power plant to help mitigate the risk of fuel shortages faced by
its coal-fired projects.

The utility awarded the contract to build the 5-megawatt
plant at Jhajru village in the northern state of Haryana to
Eversun Energy Pvt., NTPC said in an e-mailed statement. Enmas
GP Power System Projects Ltd. will connect the plant to the
grid.

NTPC, which has completed a 5 megawatt solar plant at Dadri
in Uttar Pradesh state and another of similar capacity at Port
Blair in the Andaman & Nicobar islands, has an additional 85
megawatts under construction. The plants will help NTPC broaden
its generation mix “to ensure long-run competitiveness and
mitigate fuel risks,” according to the statement.

NTPC, which has 41,000 megawatts of mostly coal-fired
capacity, has been forced to increase its purchases of expensive
coal imports due to domestic fuel shortages. The utility plans
to develop 1,000 megawatts of renewables by 2017.